The Winner Takes It All
by jemmir
Summary: Sometimes, Susan can be everything but gentle. WARNING: PeterSusan pairing. Don't like it? Don't read. It's as easy as that.


**Author's Notes**: Here, we'll be seeing another side of Susan. I thought it would be a change to write her in another way, rather than the logical and gentle character we usually know. The story takes place during the LWW. They're the Kings and Queens of Narnia and Peter's 17, Susan 16, Edmund 14 and Lucy 12.

I admit I was bored and I didn't want to continue my report which is due tomorrow, so I thought - what the hell. Besides I always wanted to try this out.

**Disclaimer**: No, I don't own the lot. They all belong to C.S.Lewis

Susan was angry.

She was angry with Peter to be exact.

And she made it terribly obvious to him.

For example, yesterday at lunch, when Peter asked her to pass the salt, she slammed it in front of him with such force it was a wonder it didn't break into pieces.

Or later that afternoon, when he found her in the library reading a book, he tried to sort things out with her but needed to duck, because the book she had held in her hands moments ago came flying towards his face.

She didn't talk with him much either. But if she did, the look on her face would make his blood run cold.

Edmund and Lucy didn't dare approach their elder siblings when they were together, knowing too well how unpleasant their sister's outburst could be. Instead they would always dart out of a room just in time before she exploded, leaving poor Peter alone.

In times like these, Peter would ask himself if Aslan was right when he thought of Susan's title.

_**Flashback**_

It would have been a pleasant walk in the gardens – the weather mirrored his good mood and the flowers and plants with their exuding colors gently waved beside him – until a sickening laughter mixed with a familiar one coming floated from the stables.

Beside Susan stood a young formal man, hardly older than Peter himself, holding the saddle of his horse. Peter remembered seeing him at a ball that had occurred a week ago, where the man had spent the evening sending numerous glances at his sister. Peter couldn't quiet understand why, but it had affected him deeply and after catching him for the fifth time, the young king had to strain himself not to grab the man's collar, whoever he was and whatever he intended to do, and haul him through a window.

He was leaning near Susan now, whispering something into her ear, eliciting a small giggle. His free arm snaked around her waist and pulled her a little closer to him. With that gesture, something snapped in Peter and without any conscious thought stormed toward the couple.

The man was oblivious of the High King's presence until he felt a strong grip around his arm, dragging it away from Susan. When his eyes met Peter's they widened in shock and before he could register it a fist flailed into his face, knocking him to the ground.

Blinked, he noticing a wet trickle trailing down his nose. Blood. He looked up at the shadow hovering above him, preparing to lunge. The hand reaching out for the hilt of his sword froze in mid-air as he saw it was the High King.

He stood up, holding onto his bleeding nose. He felt very uneasy being under the glare Peter was giving him, so he thought it would be wise to just leave and not utter a word. Mounted his horse and casting one last glance at the queen he sped off, leaving Susan stunned and speechless with Peter.

Susan's eyes had widened with horror at the scene playing out in front of her. Coming out of her stupor, anger welled up in her. She turned on her heels and fetched a bucket filled with water from the stables. As soon as Peter turned around to face her, she threw its contents at him.

_**End of flashback**_

Peter sighed as he walked through the halls of Cair Paravel. Two days had passed since the incident in the stables and still, Susan was infuriated with him. He wished for Aslan or anybody else to give him any sign or help to bury the hatchet between him and Susan.

Fortunately, someone heard him.

The only problem was, they planed to help him the hard way.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Peter looked up and saw a servant on the stairs carrying various sized boxes. He was teetering on the edge of a step and was bound to fall backwards.

Peter rushed up the stairs to help but was too late.

With a loud thud, the High King fell hard on the cold stone floor with the whimpering servant on top of him and several very heavy boxes.

* * *

"That must have hurt." said Edmund watching as the doctor tended his brother's broken leg.

Peter just grumpily looked up at him. The pain was endurable but being taunted at the moment was not.

Edmund scratched the back of his head. "If Lucy was here, she could heal you in a second." Pulling a chair from nearby, he sat beside Peter's bed. "Unfortunately, our valiant queen is spending the day with Mr. Tumnus somewhere near the Rush River, so she won't be here until afternoon."

"It's not good to waste the cordial's healing powers on my broken leg. There will be other times where it will be needed far more than now, therefore we must spare it."

The younger of the two shook his head in disapproval. This was just typical of Peter. Never had his brother given himself more thought than the others. He had taken over all responsibilities before they had even become kings and Queens. Now, in their current position, all it served to do was make Edmund annoyed.

'At least the palace doctor will not lose his job easily' Edmund thought.

The doors flew open and in came Susan, her face creased with worry, alarm and concern. Her gaze wandered to Peter, to his leg and to the little dwarf doctor before flitting to her youngest brother and back to Peter. Slowly, her features changed from relief to confusion.

"If Lucy was here, she could – " She blinked and thought about what she was about to say. "No, no wait. Let me guess: We should not waste the cordial on Peter's leg, because there will be far more greater times when we'll be needing it."

"Not exactly the way he said it, but close enough." said Edmund with a lopsided grin.

She strode forward and examined Peter more closely. On his left arm she spotted a very nasty cut running the length of his forearm. The doctor was now busy swathing his patient's leg in bandages, so she decided to attend the wound herself. She whispered to the dwarf her intentions and he nodded, pointing to his bag. There, she retrieved a small crock filled with some herbal paste. Peter seeing what his sister was about to do, started to protest.

"Susan, don't. That's not necessary, it's only a scratch. It hardly even stings. It's – OW!" He hissed in pain when Susan's fingers coated with the paste came into contact with the wound. "That hurts!"

"I thought it didn't?"

"Could you at least be more gentle?"

"I'm trying my best!" She resumed her work, this time paying more attention.

A mere hiss and two or three 'ouch's where the only sounds the High King could express in the next few minutes. Edmund just sat there beside him and watched with a sympathetic look on his face. When she was finished, Susan wrapped the arm in bandages too. After that, she and the doctor packed everything into his bag.

"All done." the little doctor squeaked, a small smile of satisfaction playing on his lips.

Edmund stood up and walked him to the door. "Thank you doctor. We'll take over from here. Unless of course Peter manages to break further more bones, then we won't need your services again any time soon. " Then, as if an afterthought he added, "I hope."

Peter grumbled some intelligible words at this.

"What?" Edmund said innocently.

"I'll fix you something to eat." Susan said to Peter.

"NO!" cried Edmund. Both his siblings jerked and gave him a startled look. Seeing his rather harsh actions, the Just King tried to reclaim his previously calm voice.

"I'll take care of that. You stay here and keep Peter…err…company."

A look of bewilderment spread across the queen's face. "But- "

"Stop making a fuss Su, it's only me!" Peter retorted.

She whirled around and glared at him. "It is of the worst calamity for me to be stuck in a room with **only** you!"

'Time to retreat.' thought Edmund. He stepped back and pulled the doors close, disappearing behind them.

The High King leaned back in his pillows and spoke in a low voice. "I don't know what your problem is Su. No one complains like that when they're around me."

"Not unless you chase them away by beating their brains out of their skull!" she spat.

Peter sighed. "I'm sorry Su."

"I've heard that before." She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head. "What exactly are you sorry for?"

"Well, I'm sorry for stepping on your toes so often when we danced, and when I spilled my wine on your robes and-."

Her eyes had narrowed to slits and he was again rewarded with a fearsome glare.

"Alright!" He brought both of his palms up in defense. "I am sorry for driving out your…noble…friend."

"That doesn't sound very convincing."

"Hey, I apologized already!"

"I adored that man Peter. He was a lovely person and you treated him like he was a…a murderer or something!"

A cloud of anger passed across the features of the eldest Pevensie, and Susan thought for a moment he would shout at her. Instead only a muttered question left his mouth. "Do you like him Susan?"

"Yes." she replied without hesitation.

Seeing Peter sag with defeat, she realized she had hit a nerve and a pang of regret shot through her. Susan sat on the edge of his bed and placed a hand on top of his. Their misunderstanding must somehow come to an end.

"Peter." But before she could continue, he gripped the hand laying on his, leaned forward and claimed her lips with his. Seconds, hours or maybe days could have passed, neither of them knew, until Peter pulled back. Susan stayed where she was, eyes wide, mouth slightly open and body rigid of shock.

With his hand still holding hers tightly, Peter spoke: "You win Susan."

She blinked. "I, what?"

"You win." She quirked an eyebrow.

"It was rude of me to treat him like that. Nor was it my right to act without your consideration." He averted his eyes before he went on. "You are old enough to act on your own and make your own decisions." He paused, as if pondering the words he was about to say. "I will not interject next time anymore, I promise, but…"

"But?"

"I'm afraid I won't be able to handle what I feel here." He placed her hand above the spot where his heart beat and their eyes locked. He willed her to understand. The way he felt, the way he wanted, no, _needed _her. Buried deep inside of him for years, never given the chance to surface because of the boundaries they were brought up knowing. Never acknowledging, just knowing they were there.

But…no such boundaries existed in Narnia, did they?

Neither of them spoke. Susan stunned and Peter, waiting for a reaction. One that could make or break him.

Finally Susan cleared her throat. "You silly man."

"I'd never want you to repress your feelings, especiallyones concerning me." She cried. "My feelings for you go beyond what I feel for other men and repressing those feelings, I am sure would kill me inside.".

Under her fingertips she could feel his heart pound in his chest. "But…you said…you…err, like – "

"I said I like him, but that doesn't mean I love him at all."

Slowly, a beautiful grin began to spread across Peter's features. He tightened his grip on her hand and laughed that laugh, one that was worthy of his title. His face registered so much joy and relief that Susan couldn't help but join him. He cupped her face with his free hand and rested his forehead on hers. And for the second time that day, he kissed Susan.

His hand left her cheek and descended to her waist, pulling her to him as he leaned back against the pillows. Both Susan's palms were on his chest, steadying herself, while their kisses grew from gentle to passionate. Their tongues danced together and Susan, her anger long dissolved, felt her heart bloom with emotions, making her weak and her stomach do summersaults. Both of them were so caught up in the moment, they were oblivious to their surroundings.

So oblivious were they that the nearing footsteps were lost on deaf ears.

"Peter! I heard that you – huh?"

At the shout of their youngest sister, Peter and Susan broke their kiss and abruptly pulled apart, Susan automatically standing up and taking a step backwards.

"Lu! Can't you knock?"

"I heard what happened so I rushed back here as fast as I could."

"It's alright Lu, I'm fine. I've been…uhm…taken good care of." Peter muttered as his face grew as red as the dress that Lucy wore.

She looked sceptically to him. "Are you sure? Don't you want to take a drop of my- ."

"No."

"Really?"

"Definitely."

Their younger sister's eyes wandered from him to Susan, whom she gave a once-over, noticing her flushed cheeks. "I didn't interrupt you, did I?"

"No." They replied in unison before blushing again.

"Sure?"

"YES!"

Their answer came out a little harsher than they intended, and Lucy couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from twitching upwards slightly. A rather unsuccessfully suppressed grin spread across the young queen's face, making both Peter and Susan feel uneasy.

"If you say so." She proceeded to leave the room, bouncing on the balls of her feet and humming a jolly tune.

* * *

"And? Did it work?"

Lucy turned around to face her brother. When she smiled and gave him the thumbs up, King Edmund the Just grinned back. They left Peter's quarters as quietly as they could and walked side by side while talking.

"It _did_ take some effort though." he said, shaking his head. "If that's the only way for them to make up, then we might as well - ." he didn't continue, because Lucy suddenly pointed out to somebody coming up towards them.

"Ah, hello Corin!" the valiant queen greeted him happily. " Thank you so much for your help."

Corin the servant smiled and bowed low to them.

_**Flashback**_

A bruised Corin sported a large bump on his forehead and watched as Peter was taken to his quarters, all the while apologizing profusely. Luckily the High King had only broken his leg in the fall and Corin wasn't the reason for a loss in the royal family of Narnia. As soon as Peter was carried off to his bedroom, Lucy left her hiding place in a cupboard near the stairs from where she had watched the whole scene take place. She gave Corin a drop of her cordial and hurried off to the library to wait for Edmund to pick her up.

_**End of flashback**_

"Do you think they suspect anything?" asked Lucy.

Edmund looked down at his little sister and asked with a smirk: "From what you've just witnessed, what do you think?"

* * *

Inspiration: Assasination from Roxy1613

I'm sorry but the continuation of the story will not be posted here, so that's why I marked this story as cpomplete. Those who have read the next chapter know exactly why.


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